Advantages

"Not too pricey "

"Good choice of colours"

Disadvantages

"Colours can bleed"

For hours of fun

Our daughter loves arts and crafts and over the summer holidays we bought her a pack of fabric pens by Berol. These cost £10.99 for the pack and they come in an assortment of pretty, bold colours, and there are 12 pieces in every pack. Not having used fabric pens before, we were a little unsure as to how they would work and what the finished result would look like, but actually, we’ve been really impressed with these pens.

The pens are water based and come in various colour shades including greens, blues, purple, reds, orange and pink. They sort of work their way up the colour chart so you have a good mix of lovely bright bold colours to choose from.

We first tried using these on plain old white tee shirts, just to get a feel for how they worked. It took a bit of practice but we found that it was best if we let one colour dry thoroughly before using a different colour next to it (or close by it) as the colours do have an annoying tendency to bleed into one another, even if you are extremely careful about how you go about it.

These pens are suitable for all sorts of material, including natural and man made fibres and once you have got your design in place, it’s simple to just fix the pattern by ironing it with a hot iron. Then the garment can be safely washed without fear of the deign becoming undone (clothes can be washed up to a temperature of 30 degrees).

The nibs are a good shape and allowed us to be able to make some quite intricate drawings and designs, as well as being able to colour in larger blocks of spaces. Once we’d become accustomed to how these pens worked and gained some confidence in what we were doing, we moved on to hats and a cloth bag each. It was good fun and Sarah really enjoyed herself and it kept us both entertained for hours on end. Full set of instructions come inside the pack.

I recommend these to anyone who’s into art & craft or design and its a fun way to pass some time with little ones without causing too much mess. Not suitable for ages under 36 months though.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

A great set of pens you won't regret buying

Berol Fluorescent Fabric Pens >>> Sorry this review is supposed to be for fabric pens thought it would be easier to post this here <<<

I know these are actually meant for marking and designing clothes or material, but I brought them for my daughter for different reasons. She loves designing graffiti (though always on paper and not on buildings!) and is always looking around for markers. When I saw a few reviews about these I thought it would be a fair investment so ordered two packs online as she uses her markers regularly. There were 6 colours in each pack - bright pink, a limey green, bright orange, a light blue, yellow, and a pinky orange kind of colour. Looks a bit like the sunset in a way.

Berol

Since 1969 Berol have been making their pens, pencils and markers. They are now based in Lichfield in England. A nice plus that they are based in England and not another country like so many different companies nowadays. Their felt tip pens and handwriting pens are used in schools all over the country - a real UK favourite in my eyes. Though I have sometimes gone for cheaper alternatives, Berol always end up being the best and most reliable!

The Markers

Like I said before, they are actually fabric pens. They come in the colours as mentioned above and are considered "fluorescent" or neon as I call it. If you look at the lids of the pens they do look pretty bright as well. This was perfect for Izzy (my daughter)! The pens themselves are chunky and very easy to hold. The nibs of the markers are also very convenient. The start of thick and then point up the nib. It is extremely difficult to explain! But the end product means you have a pointy nib for details at the top, and at the sides are a thick part to cover large areas. Almost like this at the top - /\ - and a rectangular shape at the sides.

My Experiences

It isn't really my experiences to be fair! Izzy says they have been great and have the best of both worlds. You can use it for both thin detailed lines and to cover great areas like the background. I can't comment on how they work on fabrics, but they flow really well on the paper. As mentioned above, they have chunky and really easy to grip. The lids fit well and click once they have been locked onto the pen. They last a real long time as well. We got them about a year ago and Izzy still uses them daily. Not one of them has run out as of yet! The colours aren't exactly what they look like on the lid but they are pretty close.

I would say they give out really rich colours though and Izzy has found that they don't mix up with different colours to much. The colours are bright and worth the money that was spent on them.

A Warning

If you are going to use these pens, make sure you have something underneath the material you are drawing on. With paper it goes straight through and it is permanently on that surface! We found that out!

A Nice Little Fact

Did you know that the famous handwriting pens have been around for more than 25 years?!

Overall

A great product if you like designing! A bit expensive at first but they last a very long time and are worth your spend out in the end!

Would I recommend Berol Fluorescent Fabric Pens? Yes, definitely!Thanks for reading! Please rate and leave a comment :) x*Also Posted On Ciao Under The Same Name*

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

Great fun and they work well

All three of my children, in my opinion have had something of an artistic flair. I remember when my girls were growing up, every Christmas without fail they would ask for the latest color pens/pencils what ever happened to be the craze at the time. My son has proved to be no different as he loves to draw, paint, create.... anything connected with art.

So I looked for something a little bit different for him, I came across these Berol fluorescent fabric pens, I decided he would really like experimenting with these. So along with the pens I bought some cheap plain white Tee shirts. I decided he was going to enjoy this.

~Berol fluorescent fabric pens~

The pens being Berol pens, I knew they would be of good quality it's a company I've used for years and totally trust their products. In the box are 6 highly vibrant fluorescent coloring fabric pens. The pens are quite chunky with snap on/off lids, the tips of the pens are chisel shaped making precision easier while using them. The colors are yellow, pink, orange, green, blue and a peachy looking color. All the colors are extremely bright.

My son was quite impressed with these pens, he instantly decided he needed to customize all his clothes (No Josh I don't think so!) He has many designs that he has already sketched on paper and chose one to transfer into a work of art onto his white Tee shirt. The pens were really nice to use, they went onto the fabric as easy as a normal pen would write on paper. Loads of vibrant color in these pens and it oozes out as the pen is used. I had a go at shading in some areas of the Tee shirt and was amazed at how easily the color actually went on to the fabric. In between color changes, we left the Tee shirt to dry a little before proceeding with the next color.

Once the Tee shirt was finished it looked really good and the colors looked amazing.

So a good time was had by all with these pens. He doesn't use them all the time as he wants to keep them nice and the nibs clean. I must say he does have a tendency to look after his art things so they last him well. I can't really comment on exactly how long these pens are going to last because I don't know, but I guess if the lids are kept on and the pens are kept out of the reach of little ones, then I'd say they would last quite a while. They are Berol after all and Berol products usually last well, if looked after.

~Other information~

These pens I picked up for around £7.00 from Partners but I'm sure they can be found at many other places. I would recommend these pens especially if you have a budding artist in the house.

5 stars then for these Berol fluorescent fabric pens because I can't find any fault with them.

Thank you for reading my review which may also be posted on other sites.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

good crafty idea for all ages

With sports day looming and no green t shirt ( little miss doesnt tend to o green), we decided that rather than buy a t shirt w would customize our own.

So out came the fabric pens.

WHAT DO I GET?

Inside the pack there are 6 pens in pink (vibrant), green (lime), orange, blue, yellow, and one colour which is neither pink nor orange.

The pens are nice and chunky, like the fat marker pens, so they are easy for little hands to hold.

The lid of each pen is just pull off, and the tips of the pens are chiselled to an angle; this means that the pens can be used more easily to draw outlines and for adding detail, but can also be used to fill larger areas.

USING THE PENS

The pens are incredibly easy to use- just like normal pens. Little miss wasnt actually aware that they were any different to normal fibre marker pens. This makes it easy to encourage children to just go ahead and draw their picture.

Once the picture or design has been drawn, then it should be left for 5 minutes, or until it dries. We left it for longer, so I think its probably a minimum of 5 minutes but do make sure that it is completely dry.

Once dry, the fabric should be covered with a dry cloth and ironed for 1-2 minutes on a cotton setting.

After this treatment, then the fabric can be washed as you would unpainted fabric.

OTHER BITS OF INFORMATION

Not suitable for children under the age of 3 years, although the cap is ventilated, so should the worst happen and it be swallowed, there is at least a safety measure in place. There are no further safety warnings, so I assume they are not horribly poisonous.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

The pens are easily available from newsagents, and cost £7.99 for 6, but I have seen them on the website and its cheaper to buy 2 packs not cheaper per pack but actually cheaper!

WEBSITE

Check out www.berol.co.uk fo information on other products, and there are lots of them!

WHAT I THOUGHT

Great stuff. Children tend to love the idea of decorating their own clothes, and whilst the finished result may not be what you had in mind, they will feel very proud of their efforts, and will have fun on the way.

The pens are easy to use, and even young children can get the design they had in mind because of the chiselled tip.

The colours are not especially vibrant, so its probably best to stick to drawing on white fabrics. They are, however, bright enough to be seen, and really are fluorescent, which is a big plus with children- they will have you turning off the lights to find them.

The instructions are very simple, and all you need is an iron, and once ironed on, the item can be worn ad washed as you would any other item of clothing. The one thing I would advise is that the temperature of the iron really is at cotton setting (hot) because I think this seals the whole thing. We have now washed this favourite home made t shirt several times, and the colours show no signs of fading or giving up the fight.

I have decided that its not only clothes with can be customized, but over the holiday am going to get her to use her pens for all kinds of things a new table cloth being my most recent thought. The pens are quite expensive, so its probably best not to leave them to dry out, but to get drawing!

For a fun and practical activity, this is a good idea, and will keep children amused, whilst introducing them to another type of craft activity.